Ghana, land of beautiful roofs

I attended a business conference abroad early this year. I learnt that my colleague, Theresa, from Liberia had suffered a stroke and was receiving medical treatment in Ghana.

Though worried about her illness, I, nonetheless, beamed with pride at the mention of Ghana as a travel destination for health care.  

The next day, another colleague from Cote d’Ivoire gave a beautiful speech and ended by asking that we all pray for her sister who had taken ill and was now in Ghana for medical care. Ghana again? I was amazed. 

I thought everything in Ghana needed reform. Listening to diverse media, I wondered whether the world was coming to an end, with Ghana in the lead of the foray. I heard our colleague from Guinea proudly announce that her two daughters lived and worked in Ghana. For a moment, I thought she was referring to the U.S.A.  

Later, during introductions, I introduced myself as coming from Ghana and one of the special guests smiled broadly at me and said “Ghana, I have been to Ghana. It’s a beautiful country.” 

Have they not heard?

I thought something was amiss. Have they not heard of the NPP and NDC rivalry? How about the National Cathedral? How about the bonds?  
My investment with the Gold Coast Securities cannot be realised. The last time I attempted an investment, I was so scared, I got a fixed deposit for only two weeks.  

My first port of call, in my bid to retrieve my unavailable investment with the Gold Coast Fund Management (GCFM), was to go to the Consolidated Bank Ghana Limited (CBG) Airport City branch, where I was directed to their branch opposite the Accra Technical Training Centre (ATTC) at Kokomlemle. 

At Kokomlemle, I was made to register my name with details of my securities in a big notebook. I was then directed to a head office near the Scripture Union (SU), where I was directed to an office at North Ridge.  

When I got there, they asked me to bring some new forms of documentation; they couldn’t indicate the date on which I would obtain my investment.  

Anyway, as of date, I have misplaced all those documents. I am positive I stored them at the place where I keep my important documents but they have disappeared into thin air and are nowhere to be found. 

That evening, after the day’s conference proceedings, I switched on the TV to CNN. Russian forces had bombed an area in Ukraine. Whilst helping with the recovery of trapped persons in the building, the Russians hit the rescue team with a missile. 

The CNN Team barely escaped. Gosh! Thank God for peace in Ghana. God be our helper! Indeed, no matter how much some of our youth complain on Twitter, in conformity with National Security, “if we see something; we will say something and call 999.”

Roofs

While flying home, I looked through my window when approaching Accra. The roofs were even more beautiful than I have seen in California – blue, green, silver, brown, red, maroon, exotic roofs. 

How I wish we could export our carpenters to make colourful roofs for other countries and get some payments for Ghana.  The area close to the airport was refreshing, and landing in Ghana was in sharp contrast to landing in Lome, Togo, where you could only see miles and miles of cemeteries.  

So much for the lack of democratic changes in government and rule by only one Eyadema Family for almost 60 years. In Ghana, there is democracy and at least, for the past 30 years, we have had five Presidents with their governments and we look forward to many more.

This year, 2023, will be full of campaigns and Presidential primaries. At the end of next year, Ghanaians will have the opportunity to elect a new President. 

Whichever party wins, it will be better, safer and a good rain-check for the winner to be sworn into office on January 7, 2025, at the National Cathedral (if the President is a Christian) or the National Mosque (if the President is a Moslem), and Ghana will continue to showcase our beautiful roofs!

Managing Legal Practitioner, GOB Law Consult.  
E-mail: gloriaoboadu@gmail.com.